A Fair To Remember
Part Four: Name That Tune
Author's Comments: My thanks to those who read Chapter Three and offered comments, listed this tale as a Favorite Story or put it on Story Alert: Cajun Bear73, Joe Stoppingham and Stormchaser 90.
Read on, people, and enjoy . . .
Kim and Ron had visited Egypt on a couple of missions, but as they walked down the
Street in Cairo section of the Midway Plaisance, they were impressed by the variety of things
going on around them. There were shops selling jewelry, brasswork, cloth and perfumes.
Some men were leading donkeys or camels carrying fair visitors along the street, while
others seemed to be bargaining with each other over something one was trying to sell to
another.
"It sort of looks like a scene in that movie we saw on the Classic Films Channel," Ron
mused aloud. "Remember that one, KP?"
"You mean Casablanca, Ron. The one with Humphrey Bogart in it."
"Yeah, and that Nazi Colonel who got shot at the end of it," Ron replied.
"Ah, yes. 'Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects.' A splendid
piece of work," the Doctor observed. "When that line was spoken at the premiere showing
in 1942 the reaction of the audience was rather enthusiastic."
There was a sudden peal of music and a swirl of movement in the crowd, and a
procession came into the street behind them. It was led by three camels, each with a
drummer on its back. They were followed by a fourth camel carrying a young woman seated
under a canopy, which the Doctor told them was called a 'howdah.' Following the camels was
a group of people walking in a hollow square formation. The procession moved on past Kim,
Ron and the Doctor, while the many local visitors to the fair turned to watch, and, in some
cases, follow, the small parade. The Doctor explained that it was a recreation of a Middle East
wedding procession.
"Is this what a princess would have on her wedding day?" Kim asked the Doctor.
"No, it's more of what a well-to-do person would have. Royal affairs would be much
more elaborate," he replied.
The wedding procession continued along Cairo Street with most of the visitors
to the fair following them. As the crowd around them thinned out, Ron noticed two
dark-skinned men who seemed to be discussing the parade in their own language. As he
wondered to himself what they were saying, the Doctor spoke softly to the two teens.
"Now, you'd think those two were talking about the procession, wouldn't you?" There
was a hint of laughter in his voice. "Actually, they're discussing a friend of theirs back in
Egypt."
"Are they Egyptians, Doc?"
"No, Ronald, they're Sudanese; I can tell by their accents."
"What are they saying?" Kim asked.
"I'd rather not be specific, but it sounds as if their friend has trouble with his marriage,"
the Doctor carefully replied.
Kim blushed slightly and then turned her attention toward a small shop selling various
items made of brass. Asking Ron and the Doctor to wait a minute, she popped into the shop
to see if she could find a birthday present for her father.
Ten minutes later Kim emerged from the shop with a small package that she then
tucked in a pocket, and explained that she had found something she was sure was 'just right
for Daddy.'
As they continued along the street, Kim was humming to herself, and then she
remarked, "All of this must be amazing to the people who come here, Ron. The only other
way they have to know about this sort of thing is to read about it."
"Yeah. No movies, no TV and no video games," Ron replied.
"That's true. For most visitors to Cairo Street it's as if The Thousand Nights and a Night
had come to life," the Doctor observed. "By the way, Kimberly, that tune you were humming
just now. Where did you hear it?"
"Why, a man in that place was whistling it," she answered, and pointed back at the
shop she'd just left.
"Interesting. Can you point him out?" The Doctor's mood seemed to have suddenly
become serious.
"Sure; he was dressed like Sherlock Holmes . . . There he is!" Kim pointed to a stocky
man wearing an Inverness coat and a deerstalker cap. He was just coming out of the brass-
seller's shop, holding a small parcel wrapped in brown paper.
"I think we should follow him." As the man started down the street, the Doctor strode
off with Kim and Ron close behind.
"What's wrong, Doc?" Ron asked, and Kim echoed him.
"What's the sitch?"
"The 'sitch,' to use your term, Kimberly, is the fact that the tune you heard him whistle is
called In a Persian Market." The Doctor kept his eyes focused on the stranger, who seemed
to be heading somewhere with a goal in mind. "That piece of music was composed by Albert
William Ketèlbey in 1920. Over twenty-five years hence," he added thoughtfully.
At the Doctor's words Kim's gaze locked on to the man they were following. Whistling
music over twenty-five years before it was written? That immediately brought her to full
'mission mode' alert.
"Maybe he's a time-traveller, like you," Ron remarked.
"Perhaps. But there's still the question of why he is here."
Ahead of them the man stopped at a ticket booth in front of a building, bought a ticket,
and disappeared through a doorway into the building.
The Doctor pulled out some coins, paid for three tickets, and they went inside after their
quarry.
"Where are we, KP?" Ron asked, as they paused to let their eyes adjust to the
dimness in the building.
"A theatre, I think," she replied. "Say, Doctor, is this . . . "
"Yes, Kimberly, this is the Egyptian Theatre. Ah, there's our man: aisle seat in the
seventh row on the other side." Just then the lights dimmed in the seating area, a band struck
up some music and the curtain swept open. "And, yes, that dancer on the stage is probably
Little Egypt."
Kim gazed at the dancer with growing puzzlement. Little Egypt's costume would hardly
be called 'revealing' by early 21st-century standards. Her arms were bare, and her top had a
low dipping neckline, but the full skirt was ankle-length, and all of the cloth was completely
opaque. It wasn't skin-tight, either. Yes, the dancer's midriff was bare, but Kim decided that
she showed more bare skin in her cheerleader's outfit than Little Egypt did on the stage.
While it was energetic, the dance wasn't provocative, Kim decided. It must be that people in
1893 just haven't seen anything like it before, she thought.
"Come along, Kimberly, Ronald. We need to get closer to that fellow."
At the Doctor's words, Kim brought her mind back to the matter at hand, nudged her
partner and whispered, "Come on, Ron."
"Huh? Oh! Right behind you, KP." Ron's expression showed as much bewilderment
as she felt, Kim decided, as they followed the Doctor around the back of the seating area.
Whoever the stranger was, he seemed to be in no rush to leave. He stayed in his seat
until Little Egypt finished her dance, and the audience applauded and cheered. Then the man
looked at his watch, got up from his seat and walked toward the exit. As he left, the
Doctor, Kim and Ron followed their quarry as he walked out of Cairo Street and back onto
the Midway. Then he turned east and headed back toward the main fairgrounds.
"Did you notice what he did just before he got up from his seat?" the Doctor asked, as
they carefully followed the deerstalker-wearing man.
"I think he looked at his watch," Kim answered.
"Maybe he's got a date, and he doesn't want to be late for it," Ron remarked brightly.
"He looked at his wrist watch, and it's rather remarkable that he should have one," the
Doctor replied thoughtfully. "The wrist watch will not become widely used until the World War
One period; in 1893 men carry pocket watches, instead." He briefly glanced at Kim.
"Somewhat strange, wouldn't you say?"
They followed the strange man as he strode along the Midway like a person who was
going somewhere and was determined to get there promptly. Once he reached the fair-
grounds he went up the steps to the station of the Intramural Railway and bought a ticket.
Kim, Ron and the Doctor followed along in the crowd of fairgoers, always keeping their subject
in sight, but never getting too close to him.
When the next train pulled in they boarded the same car as the man did. The train
rolled south along the western edge of the fairgrounds. It stopped once but their target didn't
get off, and they remained on board as the train rolled on.
"Is he going to ride around the whole fairgrounds?" Ron muttered to Kim. She gave a
small shrug. They both had experience at shadowing someone and managed to avoid staring
at the man while still keeping track of him.
At the next station, their subject got off. As they followed him the Doctor began
commenting again as though he was showing them around the fair.
"That's the Transportation Building. Impressive, isn't it? Designed by the firm of Adler
and Sullivan. It's nine hundred and sixty feet by two hundred and fifty feet, with every type of
vehicle you can imagine on display." The Doctor lowered his voice and added, "But no
aircraft, of course. Hmmm, it seems like he's going in."
The man they were following paid no attention to any of the exhibits inside the
Transportation Building. Instead he walked toward a section where there was a large
assortment of American railroad equipment, including engines, signals and cars. As they
were passing a locomotive and tender with a complete train of cars, Kim suddenly realized
that Ron had stopped to stare at the engine. She turned back to him, and saw a look of
amazement and admiration on his face.
"Kim, this- this locomotive. It's the original '999!'" Ron spoke with the hushed voice of
someone who was awe-struck. "The first engine to go a hundred miles an hour!" He swung
his gaze over the locomotive as if he was sizing up a giant-sized taco. "It's a four-four-oh
. . . made it's record run on May 9, 1893 . . . pulled the Empire State Express for the New
York Central . . . "
Kim ran a careful glance over the engine. It had the number '999' on the side of the
cab, and the letters 'N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R.' along the top edge of the sides of the tender. All
the black-painted surfaces were clean and the surface of any exposed metal was burnished
bright.
Kim gave a sigh. She knew that Ron's interest in railroading and steam engines was
second only to his fascination with video games such as Zombie Mayhem. If a video game
with a railroading theme were to appear on the market, she had no doubt that he'd be the very
first person to buy a copy of it. While she hated to disturb him, just now there was a mission
at hand.
"Focus, Ron!" Kim whispered sternly, and her partner turned away from the big
locomotive with a regretful sigh. They hurried after the Doctor and quickly caught up to him.
The man they were following walked to a secluded corner of the building where a
replica of a railroad toolshed stood. He stopped at the door of the shed, turned around
quickly and stepped forward to face them.
"Now, what's all this? 'Ere yuh've been followin' me half-way round the fair, an' I'd like
ta know why!" He spoke with an English accent, but not a very cultured one, Kim noted.
As he spoke the man looked carefully at Kim and then Ron, but when he gazed at the
Doctor he hesitated, looked closer, and then laughed happily.
"Theet! It's you all right, innit? Why, it's been five years since that business on Atrios!
How ya been, boy?"
TBC . . .
Author's Disclaimer and Notes:
The Disney Company owns the Kim Possible concept and characters.
The British Broadcasting Corporation owns the Doctor Who concept.
The term TARDIS is also copyright by the BBC.
The plot of this story is my responsibility.
Albert William Ketèlbey (August 1875 - November 1959) was an English composer who became best known for his light orchestral music. His "In A Persian Market" is likely to be played whenever background music for an Arabian nights-type story is filmed, although he wrote many other works. Among these are "In A Monastery Garden" (1915), "In A Chinese Temple Garden" (1923) and "In The Mystic Land Of Egypt" (1931).
Locomotive number '999' was built for the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. For many years the '999' was recorded as being the first locomotive to exceed one hundred MPH, although this is now believed to be incorrect. It is now displayed in the Museim of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois, which is housed in the former Fine Arts Building of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. This building was the only really permanent building at the Fair, and it was overhauled and refitted to become a science museum in the 1930s.
The descriptions and locations in this story of buildings and exhibits at the 1893 World's Fair are as accurate as possible.
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